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From Wikivoyage

Resolute (ᖃᐅᓱᐃᑦᑐᖅ Qausuittuqis, meaning "Seagull Nesting Place") is a small town in Nunavut. At almost 75°N, it is well to the north of most inhabited parts of Canada and of any part of Alaska.

Understand

A view of Resolute

Resolute Bay is at the south coast of Cornwallis Island in Canada's far north. It's named after HMS Resolute, one of the ships searching for Franklin's lost expedition of 1845, that became stuck on ice, was rescued by American whalers, returned to Queen Victoria, and ultimately became the wood source for the famous "Resolute Desk" inside the White House's Oval Office. Cornwallis Island was one of the last known places circled by Franklin, before his expedition sailed southward and disappeared forever. Beechey Island, the Franklin Expedition's first wintering location, and the burial place for their first casualties, is about 100 km east.

This Inuit hamlet was established in 1953 in order to secure Canadian claims over its Arctic areas during the Cold War. The government made various promises to induce some Inuit to come, and has been accused of breaking most of them. The area is too cold and barren for even Inuit to survive without regular shipments of supplies from further south. In 2008 the Canadian government formally apologized for the relocation policy and the harm it did.

The weather in Resolute can be summed up in two words: freezing cold. Average temperature is −13.3°C (8.1°F); only briefly during the summer do temperatures climb above freezing. Like most other places in the Arctic, the climate is very dry. Most snowfall occurs during the summer.

Get in

By plane

Airport

The only practical means of travelling here is to use 1 Resolute Bay Airport (YRB  IATA). Resolute Bay Airport (Q3497622) on Wikidata Resolute Bay Airport on Wikipedia

Airlines

Get around

Walking or snowmobiling. There are no taxis. Hotels offer shuttles to the airport.

See

Franklin memorial pyramid on Beechey Island
  • 1 Beechey Island, 100 km east. The expedition's first wintering location, and the burial place for their first casualties. The grave markers seen are replicas; the originals are on a Yellowknife museum. The site was not discovered until 1851, and in 1993, five archaeological sites on Beechey Island and nearby Devon Island (the Franklin wintering camp of 1845–46, Northumberland House, the Devon Island site at Cape Riley, two message cairns, and the HMS Breadalbane National Historic Site) were designated as the Beechey Island Sites National Historic Site of Canada. Beechey Island (Q741133) on Wikidata Beechey Island on Wikipedia

Do

Two polar races have their starting points in Resolute, the Polar Race and the Polar Challenge. From here teams race the 350 nautical miles (648 km, 403 mi) to the North Pole.

Resolute outfitters offer Arctic adventures like a five-day igloo camping journey over the frozen ice to the community of Grise Fiord, and snowmobiling expeditions onto the frozen sea ice of the Northwest Passage. Dog team trips and polar ice cap tours are also available.

A captive iceberg in Resolute Bay

Resolute Bay is an excellent location for marine wildlife watching. Pods of beluga and narwhal can be seen from Resolute's beach as they head to their summer feeding grounds. Ellesmere National Park Reserve and Polar Bear Pass National Wildlife Area are both easily accessed from Resolute Bay.

Buy, eat and drink

There are no restaurants, so you'll be eating at your lodgings, or from the Co-op store.

Sleep

Several lodges are also available for rent.

Connect

Cell service provider Telus has 4G LTE internet coverage in Resolute and its immediate surroundings.

Go next

This city travel guide to Resolute is a usable article. It has information on how to get there and on restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.